Former Minister of Justice and former Secretary of Public Security of Brasilia was arrested for almost 4 months in 2023
Former Justice Minister Anderson Torres referred on Thursday (6.mar.2025) to (Supreme Federal Court) his preliminary response to the complaint of the (Attorney General’s Office) for attempted coup, among other crimes.
According to the lawyers of Torres, the complaint “It is the result of an imaginary script, a true work of fiction“Comparable to the Halloween Hunting Manual published during the Holy Inquisition.
The defense of the former minister, led by lawyer Eumar Roberto Novacki, asks the complaint against Torres to be rejected for lack of evidence and that his case be referred to the 1st instance.
In addition, he denies the accusation that Torres would have acted or omitted in favor of the, when he was Secretary of Public Security of the DF. The former minister accused of omission in invasions and depredations in the headquarters of the three powers.
The defense maintains that public safety was not “AcéfalaAnd without command while the former minister was vacationing with his family at Disney in Orlando, and that the trip did not constitute action or omission of towers.
“Tickets [aéreos] They were issued on November 21, 2022, when there was not even a Cogitation of Manifestation in the DF: until the 6th. Jan.2023, date of boarding, there was nothing to contraindicate the continuation of his vacation plan“He declared.
For lawyers, the prosecution of PGR is “vacancy, generic and inaccurate”Regarding Torres, which would surround their right to broad defense.
“Apparently, Anderson Torres is being denounced, only and only because he integrated the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro. This fact, however, does not obviously configure any criminal offense“They wrote.
1st instance
One of the defense’s arguments, repeated by other accused, is that the Supreme Court has no competence to judge an accused without a privileged forum.
Although the permanence of the prosecution against Torres in the Supreme Court could be justified by “existence of connection”Between his conduct and other people with a privileged forum, according to the defense, the PGR“does not describe what the ‘obvious connection’ would be“.
Like Bolsonaro’s defense, Torres’s also questioned the fact that the case is judged not by the STF plenary, but by the 1st class. The composition of the 1st class, according to the former minister’s lawyers, impairs the impartiality of the trial.
“The 1st class has 1 recognized victim of the conjectured attack (Mr. Minister Alexandre de Moraes) and 2 ministers commonly associated with the opposition of the previous government (ministers Cristiano Zanin and Flávio Dino). Naturally, the impartiality of these ministers is recognized“The lawyers said.
Armed criminal organization and attempted coup
The defense denied that the former minister has associated himself in armed criminal organization. The lawyers maintain that the PGR made no statement in the complaint about any association of towers with 4 or more people, nor refers to the use of weapons by the accused.
In addition, he denied that he participated in an attempt to abolish the Democratic Rule of Law or coup. For the defense, there was no mention of the PGR of “Violence Employment”Or“grave threat”By the former minister.
“It’s scary, to say the least, that Anderson Torres was reported without the minimally the accusation,” when ‘and’ how “was the use of violence or serious threat.”He said, adding that Torres collaborated with the transitional government as he received in 17.2022 the then future Justice Minister Flávio Dino.
Similarly, the defense refuses the accusation of damage to public assets, because the configuration of the crime would require “concrete intention of the subject to injure the public assets“, Which, according to the lawyers, is not approached in the complaint of PGR.
MINUTA DO HIT
The defense mentions that the PGR is based on the testimonies of the former Army commander, General Freire Gomes, and former Air Force commander, Lieutenant Baptista Jr., about the participation of Torres in meetings.
In these meetings, according to Freire Gomes and Baptista Jr., the attempt to coup through the use of instruments such as the GLO (Guarantee of the Law and the Order) was discussed.
However, according to the lawyers, there is no mention of the date, time, place, nor who participated in the meetings and their contexts.
“If Anderson Torres actually advised former President Bolsonaro, why not present at meetings where undemocratic measures were presented to commanders on December 14, 2022?“They asked.
Regarding the draft of the coup presented to Freire Gomes which, according to the general, it was the same document found with Torres, the defense questions whether it would be “Google scam or draft from Google?”Stating that it is not possible to say“with absolute certainty ” that it is the same draft.
“The simple fact that General Freire Gomes recognized the content of the draft does not convey the inexorable conclusion that this is the same document seized at Anderson Torres’s residence. In addition, it takes care of a apocryphal document, which therefore has no legal value“The lawyers argued.
Preliminary defense
Anderson Torres is accused of associating in armed criminal organization, participating in the attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law and a coup d’état, causing qualified damage against public assets, deterioration of overturned assets and contributing, by action or omission, to scammers from 8 January.
In February, 34 people were reported by the same crimes, including former president (PL), former minister and former vice on Bolsonaro’s plate, General Braga Netto, in the survey that investigates an attempted coup to prevent the inauguration of (PT).
Other accused also presented their defenses. Here’s what each one answered:
- Jair Bolsonaro – denied the accusations, asked AE criticized the full evidence;
- Mario Fernandes (general) – Asked your case to be instead of the STF;
- Mauro Cid – He denied that he was coerced by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, asked to maintain all the terms signed in his award -winning collaboration agreement and also his acquittal;
- Augusto Heleno (Army General and former GSI Minister-Institutional Security Office) – He said that the PGR did not show its participation in the coup plan and asked the trial to be transferred to the lower court;
- Paulo Sérgio Nogueira (former Minister of Defense) – denied that he acted to effect a coup; and
- Alexandre Ramagem (former director of Abin and federal deputy by PL-RJ) – He asked for the rejection of the complaint, arguing that there is no concrete evidence of his participation.
General Braga Netto and former Navy Commander Admiral Almir Garnier have until this Friday (7.mar.2025) at 11:59 pm to present their defenses. The 2 deadline is different because they were summoned 1 day after the other reported.
